A View of My Office

March 1, 2010

A View of My Office

Breaking with the tradition of my new blog category, A View From My Office, for today’s post I’m offering up A View of My Office. Note the metal bracing that will be covered with sheetrock beginning next week, god willin’ and the creeks don’t rise.

A View From My Office

March 1, 2010

As of today, March 1, I have started a new section of my blog entitled, A View From My Office.

This is a total rip-off from my darling and brilliant Web-site designer, Christopher Prouty, principal at Studio 99 Creative. Chris, along with his wife, Amy, and their super-talented staff, produce award-winning Web sites around the globe.

View From My Office

Anyway, here’s a photo from my office in early-February, when things were still normal (above).

View From My Blog

And here’s one about a week before the construction crew came in (notice there are no photos on the walls and nothing on the granite countertops!).

1009 Interior

Here’s the condo with wooden floor and granite countertops all covered.

Sawhorses and tall ladders are our new accent pieces. LOL.

A View From My Office--Rick

And here’s the job manager, Rick, checking his drawings one last time.

Braiden\'s Office

Here’s a view looking into my office (where the light is coming from) after Rick and Ronnie built a “door” and put up Zip Walls (like giant pogo sticks) with Painter’s Plastic attached to keep out the construction dust.

A View From My Office

And from inside my office. . .just call me “Bubble Girl.”

A darling friend of mine calls these “uptown problems,” when we lucky types _itch and moan about our therapists or psychoanalysts or remodels while other less-fortunate people in the world are starving or in the Chilean earthquake.

And this is all long overdue. . .we bought our condo in 1992 and have remodeled it twice since. . . in 1992 and 1997. In this go-round we are adding ceiling beams and new lighting, wine storage, and painting the entire unit stark white.

Nonetheless, this is my rather stark reality for now. . .as a writer who craves solitude and quiet, I want to share it with all of you. . .and I totally appreciate your understanding and good, positive thoughts moving forward. And if I don’t answer your e-mails as quickly as usual, you’ll know the reason why!

Sea Scallops with Fennel-Orange Marmalade

March 1, 2010

Sea Scallops with Fennel-Orange Marmalade

Varietal: Pinot Gris

Serves 10 to 15; makes 30 appetizers

This plush dish, which hails from Bethel Heights Vineyard in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, invigorates the taste buds by pairing the sweet-musky flavor of scallops with the bracing edge of orange and the astringency of fennel. Pair it with a good-quality Pinot Gris (such as Bethel Heights) and notice how the light aromas and flavors of tropical fruit, orange, and stone fruit, topped off by a hint of minerality, along with a crisp, dry finish complement the flavors in the marmalade. You will have about a cup of marmalade left over; it keeps in the refrigerator for up to a week or freezes well for later use. It is excellent paired with a small block of cream cheese and crackers as a quick appetizer, as a dipping sauce for shrimp, or as a chutney or salsa with pork tenderloin. If serving the marmalade with pork tenderloin, pair the dish with your favorite Oregon Pinot Noir.

1 fennel bulb, diced (about 2 1/4 cups), plus the feathery green tops, minced, for garnish

2 tablespoons diced shallots

2 oranges, peeled, segmented, and diced, plus any juice that accumulates

1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest

4 cups freshly squeezed or store-bought orange juice

1/4 cup white wine

l/4 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon whole fennel seed

1/4 cup Cointreau or other orange-flavored liqueur

Granulated sugar

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, plus extra as needed

1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter, plus extra as needed

30 fresh or thawed untreated (dry pack) sea scallops, rinsed, drained, and patted very dry
(see Cook’s Hint, below)

30 good-quality whole-wheat crackers

1. Heat a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the diced fennel, shallots, orange segments and their juice, zest, orange juice, white wine, brown sugar, and fennel seed and stir well. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is reduced to about 2 cups, 30 to 35 minutes. At the beginning of the cooking time, watch the pan carefully so the orange juice does not boil over.

2. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the Cointreau. Taste the marmalade; if it is too tart, add sugar to taste. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring often, until it reaches the consistency of chutney, 3 to 5 minutes. In the last minutes of cooking, watch carefully and stir often so the marmalade doesn’t burn. Transfer half of the marmalade to a small nonreactive bowl or jar, allow to cool completely, cover, and save for another use (see headnote). Keep the remaining marmalade warm until ready to serve.

3. In a large heavy-bottomed skillet (nonstick works best for this), heat the olive oil and butter over medium to medium-high heat until the butter foams. Working in batches, add the scallops without crowding. Cook the scallops, turning only once, until golden brown on the outside and still translucent in the middle (see Cook’s Hints, below), 1 to 2 minutes per side. Add more butter and oil if needed.

4. To serve, place a cooked scallop on a cracker and top with a scant teaspoon of marmalade. Garnish with the minced fennel greens.

Cook’s Hints: (1) If you can’t find fresh scallops, it is important to use previously frozen untreated or “dry pack” scallops instead, or the scallops will not brown (caramelize) properly, and will instead steam in their own juices. Previously frozen scallops that have been treated with phosphates during processing absorb water. Not only do they not cook properly, they lack the fresh, sweet, and briny sea flavor of their dry-packed cousins. Sea scallops that are uniformly white in color, or that are displayed surrounded by juice, are most likely treated. (2) Scallops (like many types of seafood) are delicate and will continue to cook even after they are taken off the heat. It is always preferable to undercook rather than overcook scallops so they don’t become tough and rubbery. When using the sauté method described above, many chefs prefer the scallops cooked medium rare (still translucent in the middle).

Recipe reprinted from Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining: The People, Places, Food, and Drink of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia (Wiley, 2007, $34.95) by Braiden Rex-Johnson.

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